Free the Wind
by PhoenixFyre
Summary: At Danny's grave, Evelyn thinks back.


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*Free the Wind*

Summary: At Danny's grave, Evelyn thinks back.

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Rating: PG, just to be on the safe side.

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Review: Yes, please! Just don't be too harsh.

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Spoilers: Yeah, don't read this if you haven't seen the movie and don't want parts ruined.

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Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with Touchstone Pictures. I don't know Michael Bay, Jerry Bruckheimer, or Randall Wallace. I make no money off of this; I'm only trying to fill in some gaps and answer some questions. The characters belong to Touchstone, or whoever, and the event belongs to America. This story is mine.

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Notes: The text in italics is the present, and the regular text is the past. Reversed, but I thought it worked in this case. I don't think this is very good, but it was floating around in my mind, and I figured I'd post it as long as I was going to write it anyway.

The wind was blowing. The sun was shining, and the birds were singing. It was all a cruel insult. To be so beautiful as they lowered him into his final resting place. The world should be mourning, too. Nature should fall to its knees and weep as she was weeping at that moment. 

The wind was blowing.

"Danny, stop!" Evelyn shrieked. She tried to slap away the hands so intent on tickling her mercilessly. Danny laughed and sat back, gazing at her adoringly, just like always. At times like these, he couldn't help but love her. He wanted to tell her, but a look in her eyes always stopped him. A look that said she still loved Rafe. He understood, and he could wait. As long as he had to.

Evelyn knew what he was thinking. She always knew, somehow. They were unmistakably connected. She loved him, so much. But no matter what she tried to tell herself, she didn't love him like Rafe. Not yet. But she had faith. Every time he grinned at her, her heart skipped a bit. And she felt a little guilty for a moment, then pushed it aside. Rafe was gone forever, but Danny wasn't. Everything would be alright.

_The wind still blew as they poured the dirt into the hole, covering him up forever. His best friend until the end. What made his death even worse was the tension the two had suffered during their last weeks together. This had solved the problem all right. And he would give anything to still have that problem, as long as it meant Danny would be alive. _

He had to have faith that he was alive, somewhere. Free in body, just like he always was in spirit. *Land of the free, Danny...*

"To the future," Danny said as he raised his glass. 

"The future," Evelyn echoed. She took a sip of wine and gazed over the rim of her glass at her boyfriend. *Boyfriend. What a weird thought.* 

Danny and Evelyn were celebrating their one month anniversary out on the town. Well, the anniversary of their night in the parachute hangar. Just thinking of it made a delicious shiver run up Evelyn's spine. It hadn't happened again--they were going to take it slow. 

Slow. That was kind of backwards, considering the start of their romantic relationship. But Danny had insisted. He was first and foremost a southern gentleman. The night in the parachute hangar, he'd been carried away in the moment. He hadn't been sorry, but now he was determined to hold off until he and Evelyn could really have a permanent relationship. 

Danny reached across the table and laid his hand on top of Evelyn's. She gave him a tiny smile, her eyes sparkling. His heart gave a little jump. Everything was going to be alright.

Evelyn studied Danny's soft hazel eyes. He was truly special. She did love him, but Rafe still lingered in the back of her mind despite all her attempts to forget. Danny was her best friend--no, more than that, but he wasn't Rafe. 

_Evelyn wished now that she had told Danny about the baby herself. She'd wanted him to concentrate on the mission, and come home safely. For all her caution, he had still died. Now she would give almost anything to go back in time, just to tell him about the life they had created together._

"Come on, Evelyn, you've been in there for an hour! What are trying to do, look like me?" called Barbara from the next room. Evelyn heard her, but she didn't really register what was said. All she could think about was the inevitable truth. She was pregnant. God, how would she tell Danny?

She couldn't have a baby now, not with the war over seas. Most likely, America would eventually find itself in that war--then what? Danny would go to fight, and maybe die. They would need nurses, and lots of them. And where would she be? At home with a baby, waiting for news of her husband.

Husband. As soon as she tells Danny, he'll want to be married. And what choice did she have? She loved him, but she wasn't ready to marry him, to have a family. That was always a picture she carried of she and Rafe, never someone else. It was still too soon. Too soon--and too bad. She was pregnant, and there was no going back now.

_Rafe felt the wind rustling his hair, and for the first time in weeks, he smiled. He pictured Danny standing next to him, invisible to his mortal eyes, playfully ruffling his hair with his hand. Danny was always like the wind--free spirited. He'd been too good for his whiskey-soaked father, and too good for the likes of him._ _He was too good for this world, and now he was free to truly soar._

Evelyn shivered. She felt it too, and also smiled. She ran her hand over her rounded belly. "I love you, Danny," she whispered into the wind, and a tear ran down her cheek as it quietly whispered back.


End file.
